Azealia Banks apologises to Zayn Malik for abusive comments

Azealia Banks has apologised to Zayn Malik five months after she abused him in an homophobic and racist tirade online.

The 212 singer is currently dominating headlines after accusing Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe of choking her, spitting on her and using racist slurs.

The incident appears to have pricked the singer's conscience in relation to an abusive outburst directed at former One Direction star Zayn. In May (16), Azealia made offensive comments to Zayn, who is of British-Pakistani heritage, calling him “curry scented”, “Punjab” and a “token”, in a Twitter rant. Months later, she has now reached out to say sorry.

“There are no words that can fully express how sorry I am. Recent events have taught me the importance of taking accountability for one's actions. I want and need to say I am sorry, I was wrong,” she wrote in an open letter, according to the Daily Star.

"I reached out, on Twitter, to congratulate you on leaving One Direction and finding your own path. Many artists sell their souls to this business and sacrifice their happiness for a career; walking away took bravery, strength, formidable principles and a powerful sense of self-worth. I applaud you for this.”

She goes on to say that after she sent her message Zayn tweeted something “completely unrelated” to her, but she mistook it for a “personal attack”.

“This set me off and I began a reckless and unacceptable rant; but every cloud has a silver lining and what happened has taught me that not everything is about me and not everything is directed at me. Thank you for teaching me this, it is a lesson that I desperately needed to learn,” she said.

The apology comes days after she revealed her mother had reprimanded her over the Zayn fall out, which also saw her banned from Twitter.